


Practice

by wellthatjusthappend



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Bribery, Burns, Damian tops, I almost wish I was making this a thing with a real plot as opposed to smut, Implied Rough Sex, M/M, Oblivious Dick, Sexual deals, They're all chefs at a restaurant, Unrequited Crush, cooking au, inexperienced Damian, no really, usual injustices around Jason's situation, villains are food critics, which surprisingly works really well for all of them?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 00:17:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11543460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wellthatjusthappend/pseuds/wellthatjusthappend
Summary: Damian took a breath and looked Jason over taking care to focus on all the imperfections, remind himself of how the other was ultimately undesirable to him, before Jason’s brightaddictiveintensity could overwhelm him again. He was only there for practice after all, anything else was completely beneath him.





	Practice

**Author's Note:**

> Found this idea for a JayDami Cooking AU on my notes this morning. I vaguely remember waking up in the middle of the night with an idea and being like ‘oh I should write that down before I forget’ and then going back to sleep… it was surprisingly not as crack like as my half asleep notes usually are.

The kitchen of the Bat Cave was it’s usual mess of insanity. It was only a Tuesday but the restaurant was as overbooked as usual. It was late summer so that meant they were getting booked out weeks in advance these days. The main reason being that bat pups were finally strong enough to start flying out of the literal cave the restaurant overlooked and at dusk you could see them darting in and out of the entrance by the waterfall.

It was one of the reasons Damian’s father had built this restaurant there out on the lake.  From the pristine glass windows people could eat and safely watch the bats in all their magnificence without disturbing them. During the winter when the bat’s hibernated the waterfall froze over and made a truly exquisite sight on it’s own. The food itself within the restaurant was top of the line as Damian’s father never took half measures and drew even more customers.

Damian chopped vegetables quickly and efficiently. His father’s tools were all the best that money could buy but he still held an affinity for his own knifes. He was dutifully ignoring the other workers in the kitchen. He’d gotten told off by his father again recently about getting into fights about their total incompetence. Everyone else here was clearly going to run his father’s name and reputation through the mud with their shoddy cooking but his father simply wasn’t interested in hearing his complaints about them.

“I have trained them all,” Bruce had sternly reminded him, “They are skilled at what they do. The restaurant needs new and creative minds to keep evolving our menu. A restaurant can not afford to stay stagnate no matter how much you like your traditional dishes.”

Damian just didn’t understand why other people insisted on changing the food rather than just “evolving” more refined pallets.

He was in the process of grabbing another vegetable to cut when Damian felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist. He jumped slightly and quickly set his knife down feeling his face heat up. There was only one person who greeted him this way.

“Oh Robin are you _ever_ not supposed to be as tall as me.” sighed Dick, gripping him a little tighter and lifting him off the ground for good measure. Damian relished being so closely pressed up against the other, but he would only tolerate so much indignity for the object of his affection.

“Grayson put me down this instant.” Damian demand wiggling a little. The older boy laughed and did so. Robin had been Dick’s nickname first in the kitchens back when _he_ had been Damian’s father’s first apprentice. He’d been fired though during a spat about how much time he was spending at a little Diner he’d started with a couple of his friends called the Titans rather than here at the Cave. Damian knew his father regretted it, and they had made up enough that Dick still came around to work a night or so at the restaurant if his father called him, but- Never again as Robin. Dick now owned his own little cake shop that did everything from decadent wedding cakes to extravagant and weird little brightly colored cheese cakes sprinkled in sugary cereals. There had been three other Robin’s after Dick. Stephanie’s had been a short apprenticeship before she’d switched to working under Barbara at the bar serving drinks instead. Tim was still around a fair bit, though Bruce had suggested that Tim work as a manager at Titans to get experience for when he eventually took over the Cave. The infinity of that still grated on Damian’s nerves: that _Tim_ would inherit even though _Damian_ was Bruce’s _son_.

People generally avoided talking about Jason’s stint as Robin. It was an uncomfortable topic in the kitchen.

“Will you be here all evening?” Damian asked stepping away the moment Dick let him lest his regard for the other became too apparent. Not that it would do much use: the whole kitchen somehow knew about his feelings with the exception of Dick himself. That was just fine for now, if Dick knew he would surely try and let Damian down easy. Probably because he still saw Damian as a kid though he’d been nothing like that for quite some time now.

“Oh yeah, Bruce is calling in the troops tonight. We’ve got a couple of villains in house tonight.” Dick was with a grin. Bruce never had been able to break Dick of the habit of referring to the food critics that came in as the enemy. Possibly, Damian thought privately, because it was true. There were possibly decent food critics out there, but the ones who came through Gotham were all some variety of crazy as far as Damian was concerned.

“Who do we have tonight?” Damian grimaced.

“From what I heard? You and Bruce are going to take Two Face tonight while me and Tim get Ivy.” Dick said starting to unpack his box of special supplies.

“Drake’s here too?” Damian grimaced.

“Come on, be nice. You know he’s the best at navigating what ingredients we’re allowed to use for Ivy’s mess of vegan, gluten-free, nut-free, whole-30 etc. Plus whatever definitions of ‘organic’ she’s using today. Well, Bruce could do it too, but you’re going to need him for navigating Two Face’s unpredictability.” Dick said poking him with a frown.

“Ah, you’re here to make sure there’s something still edible and presentable at the end of all Ivy’s adjustments?” Damian surmised.

“Got it in one Baby Bat.” Dick winked. Damian nodded to himself. Dick’s specialty was in presentations and invoking a certain experience with his food arrangements. It was something Damian admittedly still hadn’t mastered though he could mimic any textbook setup. Dick was good at knowing what would ‘wow’ his customers.

Neither of them mentioned that they really could have used Jason’s help on this one. That no one had a better instinct for changing measurements and substitute ingredients on the fly so that that the taste and texture was as close to the original dish as Jason was. That was neither here nor there though. He wasn’t coming back to the kitchens unless Bruce changed his rules and that wasn’t ever going to happen.

The rest of the evening passed in a feverish blur the way they always did whenever they had in house food critics. Ivy sniffed and made disdainful faces at her food but couldn’t actually find anything wrong with it so had spent the night complaining about the way that the stoves they used were not environmentally friendly. Two Face threw a fit over the soup that he’d left sitting at his table for half an hour becoming too cold but fortunately Bruce was ready for that and had a second bowl waiting for him immediately.

After closing, Damian helped clean and set up the tables for the next day. From the corner of his eye he watched Dick spin on a bar stool and chat happily with Barbara. He truly was very beautiful. Not just his body- though that was very pleasing too, those pants he’d worn that night had clung very distractingly to his ass- but the sheer pleasure that he took in cooking and talking to people was infectious and made Damian wish to perhaps just live always in his company.

“You’re lucky Dick is painfully oblivious because you are not subtle.” Tim commented dryly.

“Mind your own business Drake.” Damian turned to glare at the other. He was also very pleasing to the eye but his disposition made him completely interoperable.

“I’m just saying, he still thinks of you as a kid. If you keep being so obvious he’s going to figure it out eventually and then he’s going to freak out. He knows you’ve never been with anyone and he’s going to assume that either it’s an innocent crush or if you show him it isn’t that he’s somehow corrupted you.” Tim gave him a irritated look, “You’re going to break his mind and everyone here is going to have to deal with the fall out so just don’t.”

“I don’t need your advice.” Damian spat angrily.

“I don’t know why I even bother with you…” muttered Tim.

“Neither do I, it is entirely unnecessary and unwelcome. Please refrain from speaking to me.” Damian said. Tim’s lip curled slightly with disdain but he just left. Across the way, Dick was frowning at them unhappily.

Just wonderful.

* * *

 

Despite Damian’s best efforts Tim’s words replayed in his head over and over. So what if he was inexperienced? That just meant that there was no one worthy around thus far. But he was aware that it would be a deterrent in Dick’s eyes. That it would be one more thing that made it difficult for Dick to see him as an adult.

More than that, it might bother Damian, he realized.

Just as he was never comfortable serving a dish to a customer that he wasn’t sure he’d perfected in the kitchen first, he didn’t like the idea of entering into a sexual relationship without knowing what he was doing. He didn’t want to feel stupid or appear naive with someone he genuinely cared about. Research was of course something that Damian had done extensively. But educational descriptions seemed to be mostly about female/male procreation or diseases that one could catch rather than the actual act. In contrast, porn was crude and generally repulsive and didn’t really depict anything Damian knew would be particularly realistic.  

What he really wanted was someone to learn from and practice on.

Still, the idea of ‘hooking up’ with a stranger was so far beneath him it didn’t warrant considering. However, almost everyone else was in the culinary community and gossip spread through these small restaurants like wildfire. If he started having relations with someone on staff then _everyone_ would know about it. If it was Dick then that was one thing. But Damian wasn’t sure he could tolerate the teasing if it was anyone else. Particularly if the teasing was coming from _Dick_.

There was someone though… someone who was enough on the outskirts of the community that it was unlikely that any rumors would start.

Jason did have a reputation of being somewhat easy even though Damian couldn’t for the life of him remember ever encountering any of his partners. He also probably wouldn’t have any qualms about their age difference either (which was hardly scandalous but enough that some people- _Dick_ \- might pause). The fact that Damian was Bruce’s son would also likely be appealing as well because of the on-going tension between the two.

Still, Damian would have to plan his attack carefully.

He arrived unannounced at Jason’s house on a Sunday when he knew Jason had closed up shop but was unlikely to be doing anything. Sure enough, the man was sitting smoking on his roof, sleeves casually rolled up his arms displaying the scars he normally kept hidden from everyone else.

Damian took a moment to stare before Jason noticed him. The burn scars were a twisted and livid looking as ever. Damian still couldn’t believe Jason had regained use of his hands. Everyone had been sure that that had been the end of Jason’s cooking career. And it had been in some ways, Jason had refused to go back to working at the Bat Cave afterwards or any other restaurant even though he could have easily gotten a job just about anywhere with his talent. One of the food critics who had an unhealthy obsession with Damian’s father that was nicknamed the Joker because of the cruel ‘pranks’ he liked to play on cooks and servers… well, everyone hated him but he was still around. He’d brought his own drink to the restaurant one day, heated to an unsafe temperatures. When Jason had brought him his food instead of Bruce he had threw the drink at him leaving him in the hospital with 3rd degree burns. Jason wanted the Joker banned from the restaurant but Bruce refused because of their open door policy where he had decided that anyone was welcome no matter their background or history.

Jason hadn’t come back to the restaurant since, though he kept in contact with a few of the employees.

“Todd, come down here. I have a proposition for you.” Damian called.

“What the fuck are you doing here brat? Little far away from daddy aren’t you?” Jason didn’t come down but Damian could tell his eyes were narrowed and suspicious.

“Father doesn’t know I’m here.” Damian said stepping closer to the house.

“Goddie for you, go have your rebellious angst elsewhe- hey! Don’t touch those!” Snapped Jason quickly sliding down the ladder from the roof before Damian could touch and of the plants in the garden.

“Do not worry Todd, I have no intention of destroying anything.” Damian dismissed him. He was impressed though that he didn’t recognize all of the herbs that he saw. He rolled his eyes as Jason fretted over his plants and instead headed inside.

“Oh, why yes of course you can come inside,” Jason said sarcastically following close behind him to insure he didn’t mess anything up, “Brat.”

“Hmm, thanks.” said Damian absently taking a moment to breath in the strange mix of smells of the inside of the house. Jason grew or bought herbs and spices and then put together mizes for different restaurants. He’d gotten a reputation because if anyone wanted to have a distinctive brand taste, Jason could whip them up a mix just by listening to their description and then grabbing a handful of this and that. Bruce strongly disapproved though because Jason sometimes grew and put together some less than legal mixes for people as well though no one could prove it.

Not why Damian was here though.

“I wanted have this conversation with you indoors.” Damian said.

“Great. We’re indoors. Now say what you’re going to say so I can kick you out.” Jason snapped.

“Very well, I would like to have sexual relations with you.” Damian stated.

“You- the fuck?” Jason spluttered and Damian took some pleasure in how off guard that made him.

“Ideally at some point, yes.” Damian said. Jason simply stared at him a moment before his eyes narrowed.

“This is about fucking Goldie isn’t it?” Jason said with a sneer.

“You are the person I am propositioning right now not Grayson, so no.” Damian said though he knew perfectly well what he meant.

“Right, you’re not fooling anyone. Everyone and their dog knows about your hard on for Boy Wonder Bread.” snorted Jason in disbelief.

“Be that as it may, my offer still stands. We would not be in a relationship, I simply would like a regular time try different types of fornification with you.” Damian said trying to keep his composure.

“Yeah? What’s in it for me?” Jason asked.

“Other than the opportunity to have regular sex and vex father? I have access to several rare spices from my mother’s side of the family that you may be interested in.” Damian said.

“Oh yeah?” Jason said raising an eyebrow, “I don’t know, your mom likes me pretty good. I could probably still get those even though they’d be a little pricy. I don’t know if you’re worth all the extra trouble.”

“I am worth it.” Damian said confidently, “... and I also took the liberty of bring you a few tarts Alfred made this morning.”

That just so happen to be Jason’s favorite. Not like he’d ever be getting Alfred’s cooking when he didn’t come to the kitchen anymore.

“You’ve got yourself a fucking deal. C’mon fucking give me that bag.” Jason said without missing a beat.

Damian handed it over feeling a little bemused as Jason greedily inspected the sweets and gave a little moan that was really… fitting for what they’d be doing together.

“Hey don’t you look at me like that, I never pretended I wasn’t bribable.” Jason said reverently take the tarts to the kitchen.

“When would you like to begin?” Damian asked, feeling a little nervous now because- had he really come here thinking he’d be rejected? What foolishness. Apparently he had.

“That depends.” Jason leveled him a look over his shoulder, “Why don’t you tell me what sort ‘fortifications’ were you thinking about in that messed up little head of yours first and we’ll go from there?”

“They’re not about _you_.” Damian snapped feeling a little hot and more than a little improper.

“Even better.” Jason grinned crowding him suddenly making his size and strength suddenly seem like very important, “I’m no one you care about impressing, right?”

“Correct.” And this proximity was really rather… hmm, definitely made his blood feel suddenly hot. Made all the smells in the room sharp, but especially Jason’s and- really, his mouth was quite close. Had it always been that full? Had Jason always been so attractive? He certainly hadn’t thought he was unattractive but it’d never really registered in his head quite this starkly. His eyes were bright and his lashes thick. The grip on Damian’s hips was strong enough to suggest that he could probably lift him easily.

“Perfect, because I think you should _use_ me.” Jason’s grin dangerous and a little hungry.

“Pardon?” Damian blinked because that wasn’t what he was expecting.

“Unless you were wanting me to fuck _your_ ass? I could go with that too.” Jason said.

“You will have to prove yourself competent before I allow such a thing.” Damian said quickly, tilting his head up defiantly. He had some pride left dammit even if he was woefully out of his element.

“Think I can manage that.” snorted Jason before rocking them together a little. Damian jumped and hissed, grabbing Jason’s forearms and digging in with his finger nails, “Yeah, like that. Knew you were a vicious little punk.”

Jason made it sound like that was the best thing Damian could ever be.

Damian breathed a little raggedly. He was used to reining himself in for the sake of those around him. The sheer disapproval or at time disgust for the times he showed himself to be a little sharper around the edges then the others liked. Jason seemed to like that though. To want that. Was daring him to try and cut himself on those sharp edges and promised to enjoy it.

“Ok, I’ll make this easier: what have you pictured doing with Dickie and we’ll spice it up from there.” Jason leered, “Course I can’t promise everything, I’m not that bendy. And I don’t quite have that ass…”

That ass indeed, Damian shivered slightly as Jason ran his fingers _slowly_ up his sides. Thought of those tight pants Dick always wore. The way he’d sometimes bend over right in front of Damian like he _knew_.

“You thinking about that ass now?” grinned Jason.

“I… admit that I have desired… to touch.” Damian flushed a bit.

“I’ll fucking bet.” said Jason grabbing Damian’s hands and bringing them to his own ass, “You just have to know him a little to know he’d be fucking incredible in the sack if he ever wanted you. And you’re going to go for that aren’t you? Maybe seduce him a little? Make him lose his mind a bit over wanting you? I’d fucking love to see that.”

“Yes…” agreed Damian voice coming out a little rougher than he meant and- oh he hadn’t quite meant to squeeze Jason but he’s humming a little amused and pressing back into the touch and-

This really is a bit strange with Jason being bigger than him. Even so…

Damian wanted to laugh but he knew it would come out sounding a bit disturbing. Jason’s skin scarred and hot under his hands and he wanted to claw and bite and maybe fuck him. He gripped him tighter at the thought. This- sleeping with Dick was not going to be like this. This was Jason. This wild raw energy in him, the feel of his sweat and burn scars against Damian’s skin, the barely concealed violence that felt as if it were just under his skin.

Wrapped tight around his cock soon perhaps.

“I will bend you over and make you hunger for me inside you, Todd.” Damian promised, though he didn’t have the experience to back that statement up. He wasn’t worried though. He was his parents child after all.

“Oh yeah? You want to mount me Baby Bat?” Jason teased, eyes bright and hungry and- well there were images for that. Damian gripped Jason’s ass a little tighter and ground them together.

“Take me to bed.” He demanded.

“Yes, your highness.” Grinned Jason nipping at Damian’s neck and complying.

**Author's Note:**

> Kinda thinking that Jason lost a lot of sensitivity when he was burned so badly. That he might need it a little rougher to make up for all the light touches he can’t feel anymore. That and scars like that might attract a genre of bed partners that Jason could quickly develop a taste for. 
> 
> Enjoyed this AU? Come bother me on [Tumblr!](https://wellthatjusthappend.tumblr.com/)


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